- WorldReuters
U.S. will act if Iranian tanker tries to deliver oil to Syria: Pompeo
The United States will take every action it can to prevent an Iranian tanker sailing in the Mediterranean from delivering oil to Syria in contravention of U.S. sanctions, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned on Tuesday. Greece said earlier in the day that it had not had a request from the Adrian Darya 1, the vessel at the centre of a dispute between Iran and the United States, to dock at one of its ports, as Washington warned Greece against helping the vessel. The tanker, formerly called Grace 1, left Gibraltar on Sunday.
- NewsNational Review
CNN Pundit’s Bodyguard Charged with Assault after Removing Reporter Covering Her Speech
CNN pundit April Ryan's security guard has been charged with assault after he forcibly removed a local New Jersey reporter from an event at which Ryan was delivering a speech. Charlie Kravotil, editor of New Brunswick Today, claims that Ryan's bodyguard, 30-year-old Joel Morris, approached him during Ryan's speech at The Heldrich Hotel on August 3 and stole his camera after he refused to stop filming. A video of the incident shows Kravotil, who secured press credentials for the event, following Morris into the lobby of the hotel to retrieve his camera.
- NewsThe Independent
Neo-Nazi arrested over threat to exterminate Hispanics said 'I thank God every day Trump is president'
A man arrested by the FBI on suspicion of threatening to kill Hispanic people in Miami allegedly wrote that he thanked God every day that Donald Trump was president. Eric Lin, 35, made a series of threats against the Hispanic community in the Miami area before being arrested in Seattle. An FBI complaint in Miami says Lin sent Facebook messages to a Hispanic woman threatening her and her family between May and August.
- ScienceBusiness Insider
The northernmost reaches of the Earth are on fire. Here's what this record-breaking hot summer looks like from space.
The link between fires and climate change Individual wildfires and heat waves can't be directly linked to climate change, but accelerated warming increases their likelihood, size, and frequency. July was the hottest month ever recorded, period. The month prior, meanwhile, was the hottest June ever in Earth's history, with temperatures nearly 20 degrees Fahrenheit above average.
- LifestyleDelish
Boycott the Oven With These Summer Slow Cooker Recipes
For those 'not turning on the oven today' moods. From Delish
- NewsUSA TODAY
Prosecutor: Cannibalism victim was butchered 'like you wouldn't kill a livestock animal'
When police in Jeffersonville, Indiana, found Tammy Jo Blanton's dismembered body in her bathtub, it was draped with a camping tent with at least 25 stab wounds and blunt-force injuries on her throat, neck, nose, mouth, lips, fingers and chest, a prosecutor told a Clark County jury at a murder trial Wednesday. "Joseph Oberhansley butchered Tammy Blanton like you wouldn't kill a livestock animal," Clark County prosecutor Jeremy Mull told 12 jurors and four alternates who were bused to Jeffersonville from Hamilton County on Wednesday for Oberhansley's trial. The prosecution and defense agreed to take the death penalty off the table if Oberhansley's attorneys agreed not to use insanity as a defense.
NewsAFPAlbania bulldozes restaurant after owner attacks tourists
Albanian officials on Wednesday razed a beachfront restaurant whose owner was captured on camera attacking a car rented by Spanish tourists, as the country scrambles to clean up its reputation as a burgeoning holiday destination. The incident, filmed by the victims' tour guide from inside their vehicle, took place at the weekend in Porto-Palermo on the Ionian coast in southern Albania, a popular tourist spot. The restaurant owner, 51-year-old Mihal Kokedhima, was arrested and faces trial for "verbally assaulting a group of Spanish tourists for futile reasons", damaging their car and causing minor injuries, police said.
- BusinessCar and Driver
Ford's "Mustang-Inspired" Mach E Electric SUV Steps Out in Prototype Form
These spy photos give us our first look at the upcoming Ford Mach E electric crossover in the flesh. While we can't see much through the heavy camouflage, we can see glimpses at the Mustang-inspired front end. The Mach E will debut sometime in 2020, likely as a 2021 model.
PoliticsFOX News VideosBiden confronts Fox News reporter: 'You're going to go after me no matter what'
Democrat Joe Biden challenges Fox News' Peter Doocy after being asked about the size of his crowds in Iowa.
- WorldReuters
Mexican president says government not talking with criminal gangs
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Wednesday said his nine-month-old administration's efforts to bring down record rates of violent crime do not include talks with criminal gangs or armed self-defense groups. On Tuesday, Mexico's interior minister told reporters the government was holding talks with "various groups" in states hard hit by violence, in response to a question about organized criminals. She later clarified that she was referring to self-defense groups.
- NewsUSA TODAY Opinion
Guns are a huge part of American society; taking them away won't help: Today's talker
Multiple Democratic president candidates have come out in support of a federal gun buyback program in response to the recent mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, Dayton, Ohio, and elsewhere. As usual with so many of these killers, there was nothing too outstanding about them (though as of late they do seem motivated by some horrendous white nationalist beliefs — sadly, protected by the First Amendment).
- PoliticsThe Independent
Trump globally mocked for Greenland meme tweet over hotel bankruptcy
Donald Trump has tweeted — and then retweeted, hours later — a doctored image of what appears to be Trump Tower Las Vegas looming over a village in Greenland, promising not to push forward with such a development. And, in response, the internet has mocked the former businessman for his past failed business ventures, including the bankruptcy of his Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City. The image comes after Mr Trump confirmed he had considered the possibility of buying Greenland, and after news reports on those speculations sparked rampant mocking of the president online.
- NewsThe Guardian
We can't trust police to protect us from racist violence. They contribute to it
As mass violence continues, many of us have become rightly afraid for the people we love. One idea we must reject is the idea of trusting law enforcement to protect us from white nationalist violence, given how much they contribute to it. If people in law enforcement want to be seen as experts on defeating white nationalism, shouldn't they have to get rid of all the white nationalists in their own ranks first?
- WorldReuters
Climate change will cripple economies regardless of countries' wealth- report
NEW YORK, Aug 20 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Climate change will damage the economies of countries whether they are rich or poor, hot or cold by the year 2100, economists said in a new report, dispelling the notion that impoverished, warm countries will suffer the most on a warming planet. Researchers who examined data from 174 countries over 50 years found that persistent temperature changes above or below a country's historical norm adversely affected economic growth, regardless of how warm a country is. The United States could see a 10% loss in gross domestic product (GDP) without significant policy change.
- NewsAssociated Press
Newark man faces child sex charges; mummified remains found
Police responding to a call about child sexual abuse said they found mummified remains and an altar to an unknown deity in the home of a man who is now facing multiple charges. Robert Williams is scheduled for an initial court appearance Friday. According to the Essex County prosecutor's office, Newark police investigated after receiving reports that the 53-year-old Williams had been abusing a 13-year-old child for several months.
WorldAFPUK's Johnson to hold Brexit talks with Macron after Merkel offers glimmer of hope
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visits Paris on Thursday, a day after Berlin offered a glimmer of hope that an agreement could be reached to avoid a chaotic "no deal" Brexit. On the second leg of his first foreign visit since taking office, Johnson will meet his French counterpart at the Elysee palace to press home his message that elements of the UK's impending divorce from the European Union must be renegotiated. Macron on Wednesday dismissed Johnson's demands that the EU reopen negotiations on the Irish border, saying that the bloc had always been clear it would not agree.
- NewsINSIDER
Drivers in Idaho keep harassing busloads of immigrants' children on their way to pre-school
Idaho motorists have reportedly been harassing buses carrying children under the age of five. The buses drive low-income children of migrants or agricultural workers to federally funded educational programs during the day. Idaho drivers have reportedly been harassing busloads of young kids, prompting a local nonprofit to remove signs from the buses that identify the riders as children of migrant workers.
- WorldBusiness Insider
Russia's new high-altitude drone just flew for the first time, and they want to arm it with one ton of bombs
Russia's Ministry of Defence released video of a test flight of its Altius-U UAV on Tuesday. The Altius-U, beset with production delays, is Russia's answer to the US' RQ-4 Global Hawk, which is used for reconnaissance. It's the second test of new Russian UAV technology this month.
- PoliticsUSA TODAY
Poll: Kamala Harris' support plummets after Democratic debates, Joe Biden expands lead
A new CNN poll shows that former Vice President Joe Biden's lead in the Democratic field has increased, while Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., saw her support among registered Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters drop by 12 percentage points since June. Biden's support increased by seven percentage points as 29% of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters said they would vote for Biden, according to the poll by CNN and the survey firm SSRS. Five percent of the voters surveyed said they backed Harris, down from the 17% support she enjoyed in June, when Biden and Harris sparred over Biden's previous comments about segregationist senators during the first Democratic debate.
- PoliticsUSA TODAY Opinion
The Trump-Greenland effect: Deplorable policies buried in an avalanche of absurd optics
Donald Trump giving a thumbs-up as if congratulating a baby orphaned during the mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, stirred some condemnation. Trump is also preparing to contest a possible loss in 2020 by resuscitating his aging voter fraud lies that even his own “Election Integrity” commission debunked as Republicans, led by “Moscow” Mitch McConnell, keep blocking any legislation that might prevent the sort of Russian interference in our elections that FBI Director Christopher Wray says is “absolutely” happening. Pretty much the only person rushing to Todd's defense was Frank Luntz — the Republican “wordsmith” who helped popularize the term “illegal immigrant” to help kill immigration reform during George W. Bush's presidency.
- BusinessCar and Driver
The 10 Least Expensive Compact SUVs to Own
Follow this simple cost guide to home in on the small SUV that best fits your budget. From Car and Driver
- NewsThe Independent
US mental health staff warned not to contradict Trump after mass shootings
When Donald Trump targeted mental illness as the cause of the mass shootings that killed 31 people in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, federal health officials made sure no government experts might contradict him. A Health and Human Services (HHS) directive on 5 August warned communication staffers not to post anything on social media related to mental health, violence and mass shootings without prior approval. That alarmed some government mental health experts who said they felt muzzled at a moment many Americans were searching for answers to the US epidemic of mass shootings, said three agency employees.
- NewsReuters
WIDER IMAGE-"I don't recommend you do this": Thailand's stealthy snake wrangler
In the dead of night, Thai firefighter Pinyo Pukpinyo stealthily approaches a python coiled around the rafters of a home in Bangkok, and quickly grabs its head with his bare hands. "I need to remain steady and calm," says the 50-year-old, as he pulls the fat snake, almost five metres (16 ft) long, off the roof and wrestles it into a rice sack.
- NewsAssociated Press
Trial starts in case of fatal shooting over parking spot
A prosecutor told jurors Wednesday that a white Florida man who fatally shot an unarmed black man during a dispute over a parking space had initiated a similar confrontation just months before, while his defense attorney said the shooting was in self-defense. Prosecutor Fred Schaub said during opening statements of Michael Drejka's manslaughter trial in Clearwater that five months before he fatally shot Markeis McGlockton in July 2018, the defendant had threatened another driver about parking in a handicapped parking spot at the same convenience store. Five months later, Drejka confronted McGlockton's girlfriend for parking in a handicapped space.
WorldAFPMinister confirms Canada will not repatriate 'Jihadi Jack'
Canada does not intend to repatriate the Muslim convert dubbed "Jihadi Jack," who is being held in northern Syria after joining the Islamic State group, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale confirmed Tuesday. Jack Letts, 24, who was a dual UK-Canadian national, was captured by Kurdish forces in Syria in 2017 and is languishing in jail there. Goodale's statement comes a day after Britain stripped Letts of his citizenship, placing his fate in Canada's hands.
